Sometimes we get so focused on the marketing mechanics of membership renewals that we forget that we are dealing with real people involved with everyday real life challenges.

Rossell offers insight into what members are facing through responses that members shared and identifies some of the “lessons that we may take away from these “life happens” types of member responses”.

Celebrity chef Paula Deen admitted to using a racial slur in the past, prompting many of her corporate partners to drop her. What lessons can the association meetings industry learn from the scandal when it comes to hiring (and firing) conference speakers?

… While many professional associations have a code of ethics or standards of conduct that apply to their members (who may sometimes be the speakers themselves), it’s less common for associations to have an ethics code or standards clause for their speakers.

We’ve included this in today’s link round-up in case you haven’t had a chance to check out the June Nonprofit Blog Carnival yet. According to Joanne Fritz, this month’s Carnival round-up: “brought together some great posts about using data for good causes. …They range from how to get off the "hamster wheel of outcome measurement madness" to "collecting data through mobile for cause marketing." There's something for you here no matter where you are on the spectrum of data collection and use.”

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Repeat. Four little words that will make your life (and content creation) that much easier. There are two basic strategies for maximizing your content, as show in the graphic below. You can start big and go small, like creating a full e-book and then breaking it down into smaller, more digestible segments. Or, start small with little pieces of content related to the same material and collect these over time to eventually write a whitepaper or an e-book. Either method lets you make the most of your limited writing time, and with little tweaks and updates, can be used year after year.

This post offers a helpful infographic that demonstrates how to “Start Big and Go Small” and also how to “Start Small and Go Big”.

Want more non-profit and membership links?

This is just a taste of the Delicious collection of membership and non-profit posts and articles we’ve bookmarked on Apricot Jam lately. You can check out the latest posts on topics such as: Membership, Volunteers, Communications, Events, Social Media, Leadership and Fundraising.

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